Donkey Kong Jungle Beat (guest review)

So much time has passed since I’ve seen Donkey Kong that my GameCube bongo peripherals have been gathering dust in the corner of my room. I had nearly all but forgotten about them until Nintendo released Donkey Kong Jungle Beat on the Wii. It’s pretty much the same GameCube game: similar levels, bosses and cute little monkeys obsessed with collecting bananas.

Once again, the goal of the game is to defeat the Big Bads who have taken over the jungle kingdoms and stolen all the bananas. You play as Donkey Kong, no signs of his little sidekick Diddy unfortunately, and go through each stage collecting as many bananas as possible. Each kingdom has a boss at the end with different weaknesses. Figuring out how to defeat the bosses can be difficult, as there are never any clear instructions and it isn’t as easy as jumping on them three times.

The boss levels also seem a bit easier with the Wii controls just because you can be more precise than with the GameCube bongos. With the bongos, slapping the right side would move Donkey Kong right, slapping left would move him left, and hitting both rapidly would make him run. Lots of hand-slapping isn’t the best for precision moves.

Jungle Beat is a great example of how the motion-sensing Wii controls can make a game that much better. The design of the controls feels natural and well-thought out. The moves are so intuitive that you’ll be rolling along making combos and earning extra bananas before the end of the first level.

The fact that I can play for more than 30 minutes is an improvement over the painful GameCube. Playing the bongos was fun and novel in the beginning, but after the first level, the intense, rapid hitting left my palms sore. The only regret with the Wii update is the loss of the “beat” from playing the bongos, but I wouldn’t knock it too much since Jungle Beat was never Rock Band.

Another upgrade with the Wii is the graphics. The stages look crisper and the characters more detailed; pretty good for a game that is basically a re-release.

Overall, the game is easy enough for kids to play through and challenging enough for adults who want to find all the hidden combos and secrets. The campaign is a one-player affair however, so it’s not really a game the family can play at once like Wii Sports of Scene-It.

Still, I would recommend Jungle Beat to anyone who’s a fan of the Wii. The Wii controls make Jungle Beat feel like a new game, so I would recommend it even for those who own the GameCube version. For those new to the franchise, the game is similar to other adventure games like Super Mario Bros..